The Xunantunich Archaeological Project (1991-1997) excavated significant portions of the palace complex, including the rulers residence and adjacent structures. In 2003, the Xunantunich Palace Excavations program continued clearing the frontal terrace and lower building of Str. A-11, the rulers residence. This report synthesizes those two sets of data, with a focus on results of the most recent excavations. I use the data to reconstruct the occupation history of the palace and changes in access patterns and use of different structures. This in turn illuminates Xunantunichs changing political organization. The palace complexs simple layout and absence of features like a royal throne suggest that it housed an abbreviated elite court, politically dependent on another polity, likely Naranjo. The palaces location at the cosmologically powerful northern edge of the site associated its residents with revered ancestors and the celestial realm, and the palaces built environment created a series of architectural spaces that structured interaction between the politys residents and its ruling elite. Increasing restrictions to the ruling family over time reflects ideological changes that distanced ruler from subject, a trend paralleled elsewhere at the site. Roughly 75 years before the abandonment of Xunantunich, the palaces residents vacated the complex, and it was partially dismantled, indicating a radical shift in rulership at the site.